There are "all sorts of smart reasons" the League of Legends MMO shou…

Riot Games' League of Legends MMO has been a long time coming, with very little information actually shared about it, but studio co-founder Marc Merrill is still confident it's going to work despite thinking there are plenty of "smart reasons as to why we shouldn't do what we're doing." beltedkingfisher.blog

As spotted by PCGamesN, Merrill shares his latest thoughts on the MMO's challenges in a new episode of the Lemonade Stand podcast (below). Merrill is asked why he thinks the game can succeed when it'll be launching into a difficult space – one where die-hard MMO fans are generally older with less free time to spend on games, especially when other massive games like World of Warcraft exist and may well be eating up a bunch of their time already.

"I don't disagree with a bunch of your concerns," Merrill admits. "There's all sorts of smart reasons as to why we shouldn't do what we're doing." …It's not the sort of statement that'd fill worried fans with confidence, let's face it.

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"MMOs are insane," he continues. "The scope, the expectations, the challenge… the argument that they're niche, all these different types of things. But there are lots of decisions you can make in terms of how to approach it."

One thing going in Riot's favor, Merrill suggests, is the dedicated fanbase that the League universe has accumulated. "We've been building this world of Runeterra for 20 years, and pouring our hearts and soul into it, and there's an awful lot of players around the world that have developed [a] deep affinity and love for these characters, this world, for our factions," he says.

"And that fandom is expressed in so many ways, through League, and through Riftbound, and through all these other things that we're doing, all of our great games… People want to live in that world, and we want to deliver the ability for people to do that."

Riot "didn't want to even try to go take on this sort of insane space until we had a global fanbase of hundreds of millions of people," in addition to "great revenue streams," a strong team, and plenty more, he adds.

The studio has all that now, Merrill suggests, but that's not to say making the MMO is straightforward. "The challenge is around, can we do justice [to the IP], and if so, how?" he explains. "It's a mistake to try to make absolutely something for everybody, because, like we just talked about, you often end up making something for nobody by trying to make it too watered down."

Merrill isn't afraid to reiterate that "there are some really hard problems," but he reckons they're the sort of problems that are worth getting "out of bed for every day" to solve. In fact, he says, everything he's helped build up to now – from League of Legends, Riot itself, to the Arcane TV show – "all felt crazy and stupid" at the time.

Despite his confidence, you can understand fans feeling a little bit cautious about the whole thing. In August, it was announced that League of Legends fighting game 2XKO is ending active development in December… after its full console launch in January. At the time, Riot explained that "we haven't seen enough players stick with the game to get to a path toward sustainability," and ultimately couldn't see "any viable future." Let's just hope the MMO doesn't meet the same fate whenever it eventually launches.

League of Legends MMO is Riot's "Grail quest" and "many a brave knight are going to die," boss says, but fans aren't confident after 2XKO's fate: "Hope this time you don't cancel it."

You know the iconic low-poly pigeon from The Witcher 3? The one that became a running joke in the community, and miraculously made it in the remaster? They're taking over the whole damn RPG, thanks to some modders who're dedicated to low-poly supremacy.

Bit of backstory, if you're not clued in: there's a bird in The Witcher 3 with distinctly anachronistic textures. Where most everything else in the fantasy world is gorgeous and smooth and well-rendered, this feathered NPC is angular and blocky, as if they just migrated over from Primal on the PS2.

Needless to say, players fell in love, and it's managed to survive the 11 years since without being changed by CD Projekt Red. It even escaped a do-over when the devs put together the substantial upgrade in the new remaster, because it's our blocky pigeon now, and we love them.

But it doesn't have any low-poly friends. Being one of one is a lonely existence, just ask Gonzo in Muppets From Space. Well, a mod fixes this. "He is back. And he is tired of being ridiculed," starts the description for Low-Poly Pigeon - The Revenge, which transforms every Griffin on Geralt of Rivia's sprawling adventure into smaller and more rectangular animals.

"Every Griffin encounter, every hunt and every supposedly terrifying aerial attack is now carried out by the same bird you once laughed at," writes modder grapedia. "Their sounds have also been replaced with pigeon cooing, so they will calmly announce their arrival before trying to kill you."

Incredible, terrifying, and beautiful, all at once. "He could not fight back on the internet," grapedia continues. "He could not stop the memes. But here, in the Northern Realms, things are different. The pigeon finally has claws, wings, several thousand hit points and absolutely nothing left to lose."

This is his game now, we're just playing through it. And just like that, I'm overcome with an urge to start a new save in the remaster. Never underestimate the power of a cute bird.

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